178-544: The Meiji Restoration ( Japanese : 明治維新 , romanized : Meiji Ishin ), referred to at the time as the Honorable Restoration ( 御維新 , Goishin ) , and also known as the Meiji Renovation , Revolution , Regeneration , Reform , or Renewal , was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji . Although there were ruling emperors before
356-637: A benefit from the in-group to the out-group) means "[I/we] explained [it] to [him/her/them]". Such beneficiary auxiliary verbs thus serve a function comparable to that of pronouns and prepositions in Indo-European languages to indicate the actor and the recipient of an action. Japanese "pronouns" also function differently from most modern Indo-European pronouns (and more like nouns) in that they can take modifiers as any other noun may. For instance, one does not say in English: The amazed he ran down
534-443: A century of warfare. The political structure, established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and solidified under his two immediate successors, his son Tokugawa Hidetada (who ruled from 1616 to 1623) and grandson Tokugawa Iemitsu (1623–51), bound all daimyōs to the shogunate and limited any individual daimyō from acquiring too much land or power. The Tokugawa shogunate came to its official end on 9 November 1867, when Tokugawa Yoshinobu ,
712-572: A combined Oda-Tokugawa force attacked and conquered Kai Province , where Katsuyori was cornered and defeated at the Battle of Tenmokuzan , and then committed seppuku . With the Takeda clan practically annihilated as political entity, Nobunaga gave Ieyasu the right to govern Suruga Province in recognition of his service in the fight against the Takeda clan. In late June 1582, before the incident at Honnō-ji temple , Oda Nobunaga invited Ieyasu to tour
890-414: A distinct language of its own that has absorbed various aspects from neighboring languages. Japanese has five vowels, and vowel length is phonemic, with each having both a short and a long version. Elongated vowels are usually denoted with a line over the vowel (a macron ) in rōmaji , a repeated vowel character in hiragana , or a chōonpu succeeding the vowel in katakana . /u/ ( listen )
1068-473: A formal declaration of the restoration of his power: The Emperor of Japan announces to the sovereigns of all foreign countries and to their subjects that permission has been granted to the Shōgun Tokugawa Yoshinobu to return the governing power in accordance with his own request. We shall henceforward exercise supreme authority in all the internal and external affairs of the country. Consequently,
1246-419: A glide /j/ and either the first part of a geminate consonant ( っ / ッ , represented as Q) or a moraic nasal in the coda ( ん / ン , represented as N). The nasal is sensitive to its phonetic environment and assimilates to the following phoneme, with pronunciations including [ɴ, m, n, ɲ, ŋ, ɰ̃] . Onset-glide clusters only occur at the start of syllables but clusters across syllables are allowed as long as
1424-529: A heavy blow to the Oda clan. In 1551, an army under the command of Imagawa Sessai laid siege to the castle where Oda Nobuhiro , Nobuhide's illegitimate eldest son, was living. Nobuhiro was trapped by the Imagawa clan but was saved through negotiation by Oda Nobunaga, Nobuhide's second son and heir. Sessai made an agreement with Nobunaga to take Takechiyo back to Imagawa, and he agreed. Takechiyo, now nine years old,
1602-741: A lesser role in the politics of Tokugawa clan. According to this theory, the conflict between these two factions eventually led to a conflict between Ieyasu, representing the Hamamatsu faction, and his son Nobuyasu, representing the Okazaki faction, finally ending with Nobuyasu's death in prison. Nobuyasu planned to exile Ieyasu with the help of the Okazaki Castle faction. Before and after his son's execution, Ieyasu punished or executed many of those who worked at Okazaki Castle, although some escaped. Taniguchi theorized that Tsukiyama also participated in
1780-484: A listener depending on the listener's relative social position and the degree of familiarity between the speaker and the listener. When used in different social relationships, the same word may have positive (intimate or respectful) or negative (distant or disrespectful) connotations. Japanese often use titles of the person referred to where pronouns would be used in English. For example, when speaking to one's teacher, it
1958-464: A loss of their cultural heritage. In the case of Hikone Castle , even though the government ordered its dismantling, it was saved by orders from the emperor himself. Nagoya Castle and Nijo Castle , due to their historical and cultural importance and sheer size and strategic locations, both became official imperial detached palaces, before they were turned over to the local authorities in the 1930s. Others such as Himeji Castle survived by luck. During
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#17327759799972136-616: A national system of public schools. These free schools taught students reading, writing, and mathematics. Students also attended courses in "moral training" which reinforced their duty to the Emperor and to the Japanese state. By the end of the Meiji period, attendance in public schools was widespread, increasing the availability of skilled workers and contributing to the industrial growth of Japan . The opening up of Japan not only consisted of
2314-531: A new alliance with Takeda's enemy to the north, Uesugi Kenshin of the Uesugi clan . Through these political manipulations, Ieyasu gained the support of the samurai of Tōtōmi Province. Furthermore, Ieyasu also placed the " Iinoya's trio" (Iinoya-Sanninshu) of clans under the command of his trusted vassal, Ii Naomasa . The Iinoya trio were powerful clans that originated from the eastern side of Mikawa who greatly contributed to Ieyasu's expansion during his conquest of
2492-565: A portion of Mikawa Province (the eastern half of modern Aichi Prefecture ). Ieyasu's father, Matsudaira Hirotada , was a minor local warlord based at Okazaki Castle who controlled a portion of the Tōkaidō highway linking Kyoto with the eastern provinces. His territory was surrounded by stronger and predatory neighbors, including the Imagawa clan based in Suruga Province to the east and
2670-476: A powerful daimyo. In 1580, Ieyasu built five fortresses in order to isolate Takatenjin Castle from external supplies and reinforcements. In addition to those 5 new fortresses, Ieyasu renovated an old castle named Ogasayama fort, which had originally been built by Ieyasu far before the conquest of Tōtōmi Province against Imagawa clan to capture Kakegawa Castle . With the six fortresses, which were referred to as
2848-506: A preemptive measure, Ieyasu dispatched Honda Nobutoshi to contact Kawajiri Hidetaka , who ruled Suwa District as a vassal of the Oda clan, to request cooperation. Meanwhile, Ieyasu had Yoda Nobushige, the former Takeda clan governor of the Saku district who had been hidden in the Tokugawa territory and had maintained contact with Ieyasu organize contacts with the other remaining vassals of
3026-459: A result, he and his men were not present at the Battle of Okehazama where Yoshimoto was killed in a surprise assault by Nobunaga, In the end, Motoyasu managed to capture Marune castle. Later, in response of the news about Yoshimoto's death, Motoyasu sent lookouts to check the state of the battle and then he retreated from Odaka Castle at midnight. After leaving Odaka Castle, Motoyasu's forces headed for Okazaki with Asai Michitada as their guide. On
3204-535: A saw, while Tadayo crucified his wife and children. According to the investigation, Yashirō was implicated in allegations of colluding with Takeda Katsuyori to betray Ieyasu and invade the Tokugawa clan's territory. According to a letter, Yashiro had teamed up with Takeda Katsuyori of Kai to seize Okazaki Castle. However, one of Yashiro's colleagues, Yamada Hachizō, betrayed Yashiro and passed this information to Nobuyasu. Meanwhile, Ieyasu himself also learned about Yashirō's further crimes of corruptions in governance through
3382-505: A senior Tokugawa vassal, inspected Masatada's troops, where he commended the cooperation of Masatada lieutenant, Kubota Masakatsu. Later on June 28, Ieyasu also dispatched the Anayama clan, to resist the Hōjō clan. He also sent his generals Ōkubo Tadayo , Ishikawa Yasumichi and Honda Hirotaka along with his son Yasushige as reinforcements for them to resist the Hōjō. At some point during this war,
3560-408: A sentence need not be stated and pronouns may be omitted if they can be inferred from context. In the example above, hana ga nagai would mean "[their] noses are long", while nagai by itself would mean "[they] are long." A single verb can be a complete sentence: Yatta! ( やった! ) "[I / we / they / etc] did [it]!". In addition, since adjectives can form the predicate in a Japanese sentence (below),
3738-643: A set of careful rules known as the bakuhan system, designed to keep the daimyo and samurai in check under the Tokugawa Shogunate. Tokugawa Ieyasu was born in Okazaki Castle on the 26th day of the twelfth month of the eleventh year of Tenbun , according to the Japanese calendar , January 31, 1543 according to the Western calendar. Originally named Matsudaira Takechiyo ( 松平 竹千代 ) , he
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#17327759799973916-428: A single adjective can be a complete sentence: Urayamashii! ( 羨ましい! ) "[I'm] jealous [about it]!". While the language has some words that are typically translated as pronouns, these are not used as frequently as pronouns in some Indo-European languages, and function differently. In some cases, Japanese relies on special verb forms and auxiliary verbs to indicate the direction of benefit of an action: "down" to indicate
4094-399: A strong centralized state defining its national identity, the government established a dominant national dialect, called "standard language" ( 標準語 , hyōjungo ) , that replaced local and regional dialects and was based on the patterns of Tokyo's samurai classes. This dialect eventually became the norm in the realms of education, media, government, and business. The Meiji Restoration, and
4272-763: A supplement from Ietada Nikki recorded that Ieyasu and his forces also participated in Oda's punitive campaign against Asakura where they fought and captured the Mount Tenzutsu castle. The Oda-Tokugawa forces managed to kill 1,370 enemies on April 25. They continued the next day where they besieged Kanegasaki castle . However the Azai clan sent reinforcements to relieve the siege so Nobunaga retreated without contacting Ieyasu. After dawn, Ieyasu withdrew from battle guided by Kinoshita Tokichi (later named Toyotomi Hideyoshi ), an Oda vassal. Later, in July 1570, Azai Nagamasa ,
4450-544: A sword or weapon to show their status. This led to a series of riots from disgruntled samurai. One of the major riots was the one led by Saigō Takamori, the Satsuma Rebellion , which eventually turned into a civil war. This rebellion was, however, put down swiftly by the newly formed Imperial Japanese Army , trained in Western tactics and weapons, even though the core of the new army was the Tokyo police force, which
4628-424: A truce with Ieyasu by offering Takisakai and Koyama Castle in exchange for Takatenjin castle being spared from the siege. After Ieyasu consulted with Nobunaga on this matter, he refused Motonobu's plea. Nobunaga stated his reason in a letter saying that if Takeda Katsuyori sent his forces to assist Motonobu, then there would be an opportunity to bait the Takeda army into coming outside the castle and annihilate them on
4806-448: A vassal's report. In June, during Takeda Katsuyori's raid on Mikawa Province when he attacked Yoshida Castle and besieged Nagashino Castle , Ieyasu appealed to Nobunaga for help and Nobunaga came personally with 30,000 men. The Oda-Tokugawa forces 38,000 strong won a great victory and successfully defended Nagashino Castle. Though the Takeda forces had been destroyed, Katsuyori survived the battle and retreated back to Kai Province . For
4984-624: Is compressed rather than protruded , or simply unrounded. Some Japanese consonants have several allophones , which may give the impression of a larger inventory of sounds. However, some of these allophones have since become phonemic. For example, in the Japanese language up to and including the first half of the 20th century, the phonemic sequence /ti/ was palatalized and realized phonetically as [tɕi] , approximately chi ( listen ) ; however, now [ti] and [tɕi] are distinct, as evidenced by words like tī [tiː] "Western-style tea" and chii [tɕii] "social status". The "r" of
5162-421: Is topic–comment . Sentence-final particles are used to add emotional or emphatic impact, or form questions. Nouns have no grammatical number or gender , and there are no articles . Verbs are conjugated , primarily for tense and voice , but not person . Japanese adjectives are also conjugated. Japanese has a complex system of honorifics , with verb forms and vocabulary to indicate the relative status of
5340-448: Is also seen in o-medetō "congratulations", from medetaku ). Late Middle Japanese has the first loanwords from European languages – now-common words borrowed into Japanese in this period include pan ("bread") and tabako ("tobacco", now "cigarette"), both from Portuguese . Modern Japanese is considered to begin with the Edo period (which spanned from 1603 to 1867). Since Old Japanese,
5518-527: Is also used in a limited fashion (such as for imported acronyms) in Japanese writing. The numeral system uses mostly Arabic numerals , but also traditional Chinese numerals . Proto-Japonic , the common ancestor of the Japanese and Ryukyuan languages , is thought to have been brought to Japan by settlers coming from the Korean peninsula sometime in the early- to mid-4th century BC (the Yayoi period ), replacing
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5696-440: Is appropriate to use sensei ( 先生 , "teacher"), but inappropriate to use anata . This is because anata is used to refer to people of equal or lower status, and one's teacher has higher status. Japanese nouns have no grammatical number, gender or article aspect. The noun hon ( 本 ) may refer to a single book or several books; hito ( 人 ) can mean "person" or "people", and ki ( 木 ) can be "tree" or "trees". Where number
5874-701: Is associated with comedy (see Kansai dialect ). Dialects of Tōhoku and North Kantō are associated with typical farmers. The Ryūkyūan languages, spoken in Okinawa and the Amami Islands (administratively part of Kagoshima ), are distinct enough to be considered a separate branch of the Japonic family; not only is each language unintelligible to Japanese speakers, but most are unintelligible to those who speak other Ryūkyūan languages. However, in contrast to linguists, many ordinary Japanese people tend to consider
6052-466: Is better documentation of Late Middle Japanese phonology than for previous forms (for instance, the Arte da Lingoa de Iapam ). Among other sound changes, the sequence /au/ merges to /ɔː/ , in contrast with /oː/ ; /p/ is reintroduced from Chinese; and /we/ merges with /je/ . Some forms rather more familiar to Modern Japanese speakers begin to appear – the continuative ending - te begins to reduce onto
6230-753: Is considered to have been in a position of independence from Nobunaga to a certain extent. In 1568, Ieyasu besieged the Horikawa Castle in Tōtōmi and captured it in 1569. Ieyasu then ordered Ishikawa Hanzaburo to massacre the castle prisoners and residents, including women and children. It was recorded that around 700 people were beheaded on the banks of the Miyakoda River. Ōkubo Tadachika , who witnessed this massacre testified in his personal journal, Mikawa Monogatari , that "... both mens and womens can be cut into pieces [ sic ]...". Later
6408-509: Is correlated with the sex of the speaker and the social situation in which they are spoken: men and women alike in a formal situation generally refer to themselves as watashi ( 私 , literally "private") or watakushi (also 私 , hyper-polite form), while men in rougher or intimate conversation are much more likely to use the word ore ( 俺 "oneself", "myself") or boku . Similarly, different words such as anata , kimi , and omae ( お前 , more formally 御前 "the one before me") may refer to
6586-426: Is equally true that the majority of samurai were content despite having their status abolished. Many found employment in the government bureaucracy, which resembled an elite class in its own right. The samurai, being better educated than most of the population, became teachers, gun makers, government officials, and/or military officers. While the formal title of samurai was abolished, the elitist spirit that characterized
6764-417: Is important, it can be indicated by providing a quantity (often with a counter word ) or (rarely) by adding a suffix, or sometimes by duplication (e.g. 人人 , hitobito , usually written with an iteration mark as 人々 ). Words for people are usually understood as singular. Thus Tanaka-san usually means Mx Tanaka . Words that refer to people and animals can be made to indicate a group of individuals through
6942-755: Is less common. In terms of mutual intelligibility , a survey in 1967 found that the four most unintelligible dialects (excluding Ryūkyūan languages and Tōhoku dialects ) to students from Greater Tokyo were the Kiso dialect (in the deep mountains of Nagano Prefecture ), the Himi dialect (in Toyama Prefecture ), the Kagoshima dialect and the Maniwa dialect (in Okayama Prefecture ). The survey
7120-420: Is often called a topic-prominent language , which means it has a strong tendency to indicate the topic separately from the subject, and that the two do not always coincide. The sentence Zō wa hana ga nagai ( 象は鼻が長い ) literally means, "As for elephant(s), (the) nose(s) (is/are) long". The topic is zō "elephant", and the subject is hana "nose". Japanese grammar tends toward brevity; the subject or object of
7298-498: Is preserved in words such as matsuge ("eyelash", lit. "hair of the eye"); modern mieru ("to be visible") and kikoeru ("to be audible") retain a mediopassive suffix - yu(ru) ( kikoyu → kikoyuru (the attributive form, which slowly replaced the plain form starting in the late Heian period) → kikoeru (all verbs with the shimo-nidan conjugation pattern underwent this same shift in Early Modern Japanese )); and
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7476-402: Is the version of Japanese discussed in this article. Formerly, standard Japanese in writing ( 文語 , bungo , "literary language") was different from colloquial language ( 口語 , kōgo ) . The two systems have different rules of grammar and some variance in vocabulary. Bungo was the main method of writing Japanese until about 1900; since then kōgo gradually extended its influence and
7654-471: Is used for the present and the future. For verbs that represent an ongoing process, the -te iru form indicates a continuous (or progressive) aspect , similar to the suffix ing in English. For others that represent a change of state, the -te iru form indicates a perfect aspect. For example, kite iru means "They have come (and are still here)", but tabete iru means "They are eating". Questions (both with an interrogative pronoun and yes/no questions) have
7832-405: Is why some linguists do not classify Japanese "pronouns" as pronouns, but rather as referential nouns, much like Spanish usted (contracted from vuestra merced , "your ( majestic plural ) grace") or Portuguese você (from vossa mercê ). Japanese personal pronouns are generally used only in situations requiring special emphasis as to who is doing what to whom. The choice of words used as pronouns
8010-533: The Battle of Azukizaka (1564) . Some of Ieyasu's vassals were in the Ikkō-ikki ranks, notably Honda Masanobu and Natsume Yoshinobu , who had deserted him for the Ikkō-ikki rebellion out of religious sympathy. However, many of Ieyasu's core vassals who were also followers of the sect, such as Ishikawa Ienari and Honda Tadakatsu , quickly abandoned the Ikkō faith of Jōdo Shinshū and stayed loyal to Ieyasu in order to strike
8188-515: The Battle of Hakodate in Hokkaidō. The defeat of the armies of the former shōgun (led by Enomoto Takeaki and Hijikata Toshizō ) marked the final end of the Tokugawa shogunate, with the Emperor's power fully restored. Finally, by 1872, the daimyōs , past and present, were summoned before the Emperor, where it was declared that all domains were now to be returned to the Emperor . The roughly 280 domains were turned into 72 prefectures, each under
8366-546: The Blood tax riots , the Meiji government put down revolts by Japanese samurai angry that the traditional untouchable status of burakumin was legally revoked. Under the Meiji Restoration, the practices of the samurai classes, deemed feudal and unsuitable for modern times following the end of sakoku in 1853, resulted in a number of edicts intended to 'modernise' the appearance of upper class Japanese men. With
8544-635: The Japanese people . It has around 123 million speakers, primarily in Japan , the only country where it is the national language , and within the Japanese diaspora worldwide. The Japonic family also includes the Ryukyuan languages and the variously classified Hachijō language . There have been many attempts to group the Japonic languages with other families such as the Ainu , Austronesian , Koreanic , and
8722-462: The Japonic language family, which also includes the Ryukyuan languages spoken in the Ryukyu Islands . As these closely related languages are commonly treated as dialects of the same language, Japanese is sometimes called a language isolate . According to Martine Irma Robbeets , Japanese has been subject to more attempts to show its relation to other languages than any other language in
8900-638: The Kansai region in celebration of the demise of the Takeda clan . Before the meeting could take place, Ieyasu learned that Nobunaga had been killed at Honnō-ji temple by Akechi Mitsuhide . Tokugawa Ieyasu heard that Nobunaga had been killed by Akechi Mitsuhide while in Hirakata , Osaka, but at the time, he had only a few companions with him, notably Sakai Tadatsugu, Ii Naomasa, and Honda Tadakatsu, Sakakibara Yasumasa and some others. The Iga provincial route
9078-627: The Meiji era , during which time Japan rapidly industrialized and adopted Western ideas and production methods. In 1853, Commodore Matthew C. Perry arrived in Japan. A year later Perry returned in threatening large warships with the aspiration of concluding a treaty that would open up Japanese ports for trade. Perry concluded the treaty that would open up two Japanese ports (Shimoda and Hakodate) only for material support, such as firewood, water, food, and coal for U.S. ships. The Convention of Kanagawa
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#17327759799979256-522: The Oda clan to the west. Hirotada's main enemy was Oda Nobuhide , the father of Oda Nobunaga . In the year of Takechiyo's birth, the Matsudaira clan split. Hirotada's uncle, Matsudaira Nobutaka defected to the Oda clan . This gave Oda Nobuhide the confidence to attack Okazaki. Soon afterwards, Hirotada's father-in-law died, and his heir, Mizuno Nobumoto , revived the clan's traditional enmity against
9434-580: The Oda clan , and building up his strength under Oda Nobunaga. After Oda Nobunaga's death, Ieyasu was briefly a rival of Toyotomi Hideyoshi , before declaring his allegiance to Toyotomi and fighting on his behalf. Under Toyotomi, Ieyasu was relocated to the Kanto plains in eastern Japan, away from the Toyotomi power base in Osaka . He built his castle in the fishing village of Edo (now Tokyo ). He became
9612-514: The Philippines , and various Pacific islands, locals in those countries learned Japanese as the language of the empire. As a result, many elderly people in these countries can still speak Japanese. Japanese emigrant communities (the largest of which are to be found in Brazil , with 1.4 million to 1.5 million Japanese immigrants and descendants, according to Brazilian IBGE data, more than
9790-738: The United States (notably in Hawaii , where 16.7% of the population has Japanese ancestry, and California ), and the Philippines (particularly in Davao Region and the Province of Laguna ). Japanese has no official status in Japan, but is the de facto national language of the country. There is a form of the language considered standard : hyōjungo ( 標準語 ) , meaning "standard Japanese", or kyōtsūgo ( 共通語 ) , "common language", or even "Tokyo dialect" at times. The meanings of
9968-754: The de facto standard Japanese had been the Kansai dialect , especially that of Kyoto . However, during the Edo period, Edo (now Tokyo) developed into the largest city in Japan, and the Edo-area dialect became standard Japanese. Since the end of Japan's self-imposed isolation in 1853, the flow of loanwords from European languages has increased significantly. The period since 1945 has seen many words borrowed from other languages—such as German, Portuguese and English. Many English loan words especially relate to technology—for example, pasokon (short for "personal computer"), intānetto ("internet"), and kamera ("camera"). Due to
10146-498: The siege of Noda Castle later that same year. In 1574, Shingen was succeeded by his son Takeda Katsuyori and the conflict continued as the Tokugawa forces under Honda Tadakatsu and Sakakibara Yasumasa seized many of the Takeda clan's castles, including Komyo Castle. At some point, Ieyasu tried to capture Inui Castle in Tōtōmi Province, but strong resistance from its garrison commander, Amano Kagehira, forced Ieyasu to abort
10324-421: The "Mikawa Monogatari'", which was written by Ōkubo Tadachika , Tokuhime (wife of Nobuyasu), who was not on good terms with her mother-in-law Tsukiyama-dono, wrote in a letter to her father, Nobunaga, that her mother-in-law and her husband were secretly conspiring with Takeda Katsuyori. However, this hypothesis was considered implausible by various historians in the modern era. According to Katsuhiro Taniguchi,
10502-711: The "six fortresses of Takatenjin", completed, Ieyasu assigned Ishikawa Yasumichi to the Ogasayama fort, Honda Yasushige to the Nogasaka fort, Osuga Yasutaka to the Higamine, Shishigahana, and Nakamura forts, while Sakai Ietada was appointed to garrison the Mitsuiyama fort. The Takatenjin castle which was defended by Okabe Motonobu , immediately suffered from a period of starvation as the seige by Oda-Tokugawa forces intensified. In response, Motonobu tried to negotiate
10680-527: The 1.2 million of the United States ) sometimes employ Japanese as their primary language. Approximately 12% of Hawaii residents speak Japanese, with an estimated 12.6% of the population of Japanese ancestry in 2008. Japanese emigrants can also be found in Peru , Argentina , Australia (especially in the eastern states), Canada (especially in Vancouver , where 1.4% of the population has Japanese ancestry),
10858-432: The 15th Tokugawa shōgun , "put his prerogatives at the Emperor's disposal" and resigned 10 days later. This was effectively the "restoration" ( Taisei Hōkan ) of imperial rule – although Yoshinobu still had significant influence and it was not until January 3, the following year, with the young Emperor's edict, that the restoration fully occurred. On 3 January 1868, the Emperor stripped Yoshinobu of all power and made
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#173277597999711036-498: The 1860s, principally by Westerners in the international settlements of Yokohama and Kobe, and some local lords, but these had relatively small impacts. It was only in the 1870s that imported technologies began to play a significant role, and only in the 1880s did they produce more than a small output volume. In Meiji Japan, raw silk was the most important export commodity, and raw silks exports experienced enormous growth during this period, overtaking China. Revenue from silk exports funded
11214-614: The Dampatsurei Edict of 1871 issued by Emperor Meiji during the early Meiji Era , men of the samurai classes were forced to cut their hair short, effectively abandoning the chonmage ( chonmage ) hairstyle. During the Meiji Restoration, the practice of cremation and Buddhism were condemned and the Japanese government tried to ban cremation but were unsuccessful, then tried to limit it in urban areas. The Japanese government reversed its ban on cremation and pro-cremation Japanese adopted western European arguments on how cremation
11392-501: The Emperor to power. After Kōmei's death on 30 January 1867, Meiji ascended the throne on February 3. This period also saw Japan change from being a feudal society to having a centralized nation and left the Japanese with a lingering influence of modernity . In the same year, the koban was discontinued as a form of currency. The Tokugawa government had been founded in the 17th century and initially focused on reestablishing order in social, political and international affairs after
11570-507: The Erinji area with 500 men to confront a Hōjō troop that numbered 3,000 men. Masatada managed to defeat them and inflicted between 600 and 700 casualties. On June 12, Masatada joined forces with another former Takeda vassal, Okabe Masatsuna , and a senior Tokugawa general, Osuga Yasutaka. The same day, Yoda Nobushige set off to Saku District and rallied around 3,000 Takeda clan retainers as Ieyasu instructed. Several days later, Osuga Yasutaka,
11748-621: The French Minister-Resident Léon Roches were the first European envoys ever to receive a personal audience with Meiji in Edo (Tokyo). This audience laid the foundation for (modern) Dutch diplomacy in Japan. Subsequently, De Graeff van Polsbroek assisted the emperor and the government in their negotiations with representatives of the major European powers. In 1869, the daimyōs of the Tosa , Hizen , Satsuma and Chōshū Domains , who were pushing most fiercely against
11926-653: The Hōjō clan had captured Iwadono Castle in Tsuru District, and instructed Watanabe Shozaemon, a local magistrate from the Tsuru District, to assist them in their conquest. Subsequently, Sanada Masayuki led his army and captured the Numata Castle for the Uesugi clan. On June 14 however, Kawajiri Hidetaka killed Honda Nobutoshi. This was followed by an uprising from many of the clans in Kai province against Hidetaka
12104-473: The Hōjō clan, forcing Tadatsugu to retreat. As Tadatsugu's forces retreated, they were pursued by 43,000 men of the Hōjō clan army. Okabe Masatsuna, a member of the Suruga clan samurai who once served under Baba Nobuharu , took the initiative to defend the rear of Tadatsugu's army from the enemy charges and repelled them. As they successfully retreated without further losses, they rejoined Ieyasu's main forces in
12282-549: The Ieyasu's escorts suffered around 200 casualties during their journey, and when they arrived at Ietada's residence in Mikawa, they only had about 34 personnel left, including high ranking Tokugawa generals including Tadatsugu, Naomasa, Tadakatsu, Sakakibara, Ōkubo Tadayo , Hattori Hanzō , and others. After Ieyasu reached Mikawa, he immediately moved to shift his focus on former Takeda clan territory as he expected unrest there. As
12460-454: The Imagawa clan. He also strengthened his powerbase by creating a military government system for the Tokugawa clan in Mikawa which was based on his hereditary vassals, the Fudai daimyō . The system which was called " Sanbi no gunsei " (三備の軍制) divided governance into three sections: In 1567, Ieyasu started the family name "Tokugawa", changing his name to the well-known Tokugawa Ieyasu . As he
12638-417: The Imagawa ordered him to fight against the Oda clan in a series of battles. Motoyasu fought his first battle in 1558 at the siege of Terabe . The lord of Terabe, Suzuki Shigeteru (or Suzuki Shigetatsu ), betrayed the Imagawa by defecting to Oda Nobunaga . This was nominally within Matsudaira territory, so Imagawa Yoshimoto entrusted the campaign to Motoyasu and his retainers from Okazaki. Motoyasu led
12816-559: The Imagawa. Despite this refusal, Nobuhide chose not to kill Takechiyo, but instead held him hostage for the next three years at the Honshōji Temple in Nagoya . It was rumored that Oda Nobunaga met Takechiyo at the temple, when Takechiyo was 6 years old, and Nobunaga was 14. However, Katsuhiro Taniguchi reported there is no concrete historical records about this story of first meeting between Ieyasu with Nobunaga. In 1549, when Takechiyo
12994-486: The Japanese language is of particular interest, ranging between an apical central tap and a lateral approximant . The "g" is also notable; unless it starts a sentence, it may be pronounced [ ŋ ] , in the Kanto prestige dialect and in other eastern dialects. The phonotactics of Japanese are relatively simple. The syllable structure is (C)(G)V(C), that is, a core vowel surrounded by an optional onset consonant,
13172-490: The Japanese purchase of industrial equipment and raw materials. Although the highest quality silk remained produced in China, and Japan's adoption of modern machines in the silk industry was slow, Japan was able to capture the global silk market due to standardized production of silk. Standardization, especially in silkworm egg cultivation, yielded more consistency in quality, particularly important for mechanized silk weaving. Since
13350-874: The Kai Kawachi domain, the former base of Anayama Nobutada , one of Tokugawa's retainers who was killed by outlaws during his escape after the Honnō-ji Incident. Suganuma Castle (Terazawa, Minobu Town) was built along the Fuji River and the Suruga Highway (Kawachi Road). After the death of Nobutada and the senior members of the Obikane clan, to which they had pledged loyalty, the Anayama clan was left leaderless, so they decided to pledge allegiance to Ieyasu. Ieyasu then dispatched Sone Masatada , formerly one of Shingen Takeda's three most prominent generals, to
13528-419: The Matsudaira and declared allegiance to Oda Nobuhide as well. As a result, Hirotada divorced Odai-no-kata and sent her back to her family. Hirotada later remarried to different wives, and Takechiyo eventually had 11 half-brothers and sisters. As Oda Nobuhide continued to attack Okazaki, Hirotada turned to his powerful eastern neighbor, Imagawa Yoshimoto for assistance. Yoshimoto agreed to an alliance under
13706-550: The Meiji Restoration was the 1866 Satsuma-Chōshū Alliance between Saigō Takamori and Kido Takayoshi , leaders of the reformist elements in the Satsuma and Chōshū Domains at the southwestern end of the Japanese archipelago. These two leaders supported the Emperor Kōmei (Emperor Meiji's father) and were brought together by Sakamoto Ryōma for the purpose of challenging the ruling Tokugawa shogunate ( bakufu ) and restoring
13884-569: The Meiji Restoration, the events restored practical abilities and consolidated the political system under the Emperor of Japan . The goals of the restored government were expressed by the new emperor in the Charter Oath . The Restoration led to enormous changes in Japan's political and social structure and spanned both the late Edo period (often called the Bakumatsu ) and the beginning of
14062-490: The Meiji government considerable leeway to invest in new initiatives. During the Meiji period, powers such as Europe and the United States helped transform Japan and made them realize a change needed to take place. Some leaders went out to foreign lands and used the knowledge and government writings to help shape and form a more influential government within their walls that allowed for things such as production. Despite
14240-589: The Meiji restoration's Shinbutsu bunri , tens of thousands of Japanese Buddhist religious idols and temples were smashed and destroyed. Japan then closed and shut down tens of thousands of traditional old Shinto shrines in the Shrine Consolidation Policy and the Meiji government built the new modern 15 shrines of the Kenmu restoration as a political move to link the Meiji restoration to the Kenmu restoration for their new State Shinto cult. In
14418-736: The Old Japanese sections are written in Man'yōgana , which uses kanji for their phonetic as well as semantic values. Based on the Man'yōgana system, Old Japanese can be reconstructed as having 88 distinct morae . Texts written with Man'yōgana use two different sets of kanji for each of the morae now pronounced き (ki), ひ (hi), み (mi), け (ke), へ (he), め (me), こ (ko), そ (so), と (to), の (no), も (mo), よ (yo) and ろ (ro). (The Kojiki has 88, but all later texts have 87. The distinction between mo 1 and mo 2 apparently
14596-539: The Ryūkyūan languages as dialects of Japanese. The imperial court also seems to have spoken an unusual variant of the Japanese of the time, most likely the spoken form of Classical Japanese , a writing style that was prevalent during the Heian period , but began to decline during the late Meiji period . The Ryūkyūan languages are classified by UNESCO as 'endangered', as young people mostly use Japanese and cannot understand
14774-449: The Takeda clan to restore order in the chaos following the death of Nobunaga. At that moment, Nobushige was settled in the secluded village of Osawa. At the same time, Uesugi and the Hōjō clans also mobilized their forces to invade Shinano Province , Kōzuke Province , and Kai Province (currently Gunma Prefecture), which were ruled by the remnants of the many small clans that formerly served
14952-577: The Takeda clan, when they learned of the death of Nobunaga. This caused a triangle conflict between those three factions known as the Tenshō-Jingo War ( 天正壬午の乱 , Tenshō-Jingo no ran ) . At first, the Hōjō clan, who ruled the Kantō region , led an army of 55,000 men to invade the Shinano Province through Usui, as they aimed to prevent a Tokugawa incursion of Kai. By June 13, 1582,
15130-650: The Tokugawa clan also gained support fromt the Tomohisa clan . Uesugi Kagekatsu of the Uesugi clan also made his move by supporting former Takeda clan forces under the leadership of Ogasawara Dōsetsusai from the Ogasawara clan and Yashiro Hidemasa at Chikuma and the Nishina clan of Azumino . They defeated and expelled Kiso Yoshimasa , who had been granted the control of both Chikuma and Azumino by Oda Nobunaga. They then faced another branch of Ogasawara clan which
15308-976: The Tokugawa group suffered one last attack by Ochimusha-gari outlaws as they reached the territory of Kōka ikki clans of Jizamurai who were friendly to the Tokugawa clan. The Koka ikki samurais assisted Ieyasu in eliminating the threat of the Ochimusha-gari outlaws and escorted them until they reached Iga Province , where they were further protected by other allied clans from Iga ikki who accompanied Ieyasu and his group until they safely reached Mikawa. Portuguese missionary Luís Fróis recorded in his work History of Japan that during this journey, Tokugawa retainers including Sakai Tadatsugu , Ii Naomasa and Honda Tadakatsu fought their way out of raids and harassment from Ochimusha-gari outlaws while escorting Ieyasu, while paying bribes of gold and silver to those Ochimusha-gari outlaws that could be bribed. Matsudaira Ietada recorded in his journal, Ietada nikki (家忠日記),
15486-584: The abandoned Okazaki Castle and reclaimed his ancestral seat. Motoyasu then decided to ally with Oda Nobunaga . Motoyasu's wife, Lady Tsukiyama , and infant son, Matsudaira Nobuyasu, were held hostage in Sunpu by Imagawa Ujizane , Yoshimoto's heir, so the deal was secret. In 1561, Motoyasu openly broke his allegiance with the Imagawa clan and captured Kaminogō castle. Kaminogō was held by Udono Nagamochi. Resorting to stealth, Motoyasu forces under Hattori Hanzō attacked under cover of darkness, setting fire to
15664-543: The addition of a collective suffix (a noun suffix that indicates a group), such as -tachi , but this is not a true plural: the meaning is closer to the English phrase "and company". A group described as Tanaka-san-tachi may include people not named Tanaka. Some Japanese nouns are effectively plural, such as hitobito "people" and wareware "we/us", while the word tomodachi "friend" is considered singular, although plural in form. Verbs are conjugated to show tenses, of which there are two: past and present (or non-past) which
15842-402: The advantage as they steadily pushed back the Tokugawa army. However, Honda Tadakatsu suddenly launched a lone, suicidal charge, while Sakakibara Yasumasa launched his force in a timely counterattack on Asakura's flank; they managed to beat Asakura's forces. Since Ieyasu's army was now free to move, they exploited the gap between Asakura and Azai's forces and sent Tadakatsu and Yasumasa to attack
16020-547: The area of Wakamiko in Suwamachi (modern day Yamanashi Prefecture ). On June 5, Ieyasu instructed two members of Takekawa clan from Kai who were hiding in Kiriyama, Tōtōmi Province, Orii Tsugumasa and Yonekura Tadatsugu, to proceed with the work of enticing the Kai samurai to the Tokugawa side. The next day, Ieyasu also sent a letter to Masatsuna instructing him to begin the construction of a castle at Shimoyama, Minobu Town in
16198-484: The attack in person, but after taking the outer defences, he burned the main castle and withdrew. As anticipated, the Oda forces attacked his rear lines, but Motoyasu was prepared and drove off the Oda army. He then succeeded in delivering supplies during the siege of Odaka Castle a year later. Odaka was one of five disputed frontier forts under attack by the Oda clan, and the only one that still remained under Imagawa control. Motoyasu launched diversionary attacks against
16376-457: The brother-in-law of Nobunaga, who had broken his alliance with the Oda clan during the siege of Kanegasaki and Asakura combined to fight the combined armies of Nobunaga and Ieyasu who led 5,000 of his men to support Nobunaga at the battle. As the Oda clan engaged the Azai clan army on the right, Tokugawa's forces engaged the Asakura clan's army on the left. At first, Asakura's army gained
16554-702: The castle and capturing two of Udono's sons. He then used them as hostages to exchange for his wife and son. Sometime in the aftermath of the Okehazama battle where Imagawa Yoshimoto was slain, Ieyasu formed the Kiyosu Alliance [ jp ] with Oda Nobunaga , daimyo lord of Owari Province and the head of Oda clan . In 1563, Matsudaira Nobuyasu, the first son of Motoyasu, was married to Oda Nobunaga's daughter Tokuhime . In February, Matsudaira Motoyasu changed his name to Matsudaira Ieyasu . Some historians believe that these actions provoked
16732-463: The castle and instead made camp for the night. This error allowed a band of Tokugawa soldiers to raid the camp in the ensuing hours, further upsetting the already disoriented Takeda army, and ultimately resulting in Shingen's decision to call off the offensive altogether. Takeda Shingen would not get another chance to advance on Hamamatsu, much less Kyoto, since he died from unknown causes shortly after
16910-539: The clearly defined class system which the bakufu had envisaged, partly leading to their eventual downfall. The military of Japan, strengthened by nationwide conscription and emboldened by military success in both the Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War , began to view themselves as a growing world power. Besides drastic changes to the social structure of Japan, in an attempt to create
17088-404: The condition that Hirotada send his young heir to Sunpu Domain as a hostage. Oda Nobuhide learned of this arrangement and had Takechiyo abducted. Takechiyo was five years old at the time. Nobuhide threatened to execute Takechiyo unless his father severed all ties with the Imagawa clan . However, Hirotada refused, stating that sacrificing his own son would show his seriousness in his pact with
17266-420: The control of a state-appointed governor. If the daimyōs peacefully complied, they were given a prominent voice in the new Meiji government. Later, their debts and payments of samurai stipends were either taxed heavily or turned into bonds which resulted in a large loss of wealth among former samurai. Emperor Meiji announced in his 1868 Charter Oath that "Knowledge shall be sought all over the world, and thereby
17444-472: The coup d'état that was going on in Okazaki Castle. Furthermore, Sakai Tadatsugu, the most prominent general of Ieyasu, also may have played a role in confirming Oda Nobunaga's suspicion of the alleged betrayal against the Oda clan being planned by Nobuyasu Tsukiyama. Ieyasu may have concluded that if a high-ranking fudai daimyō such as Tadatsugu had confirmed the accusations against Lady Tsukiyama, then they must be true. Another theory has said that Tadatsugu
17622-417: The disputed regions and then split his army into two parts, with the separate detachment led by Sakai Tadatsugu and Ogasawara Nobumine going to pacify the Shinano Province, while Ieyasu took the main force to pacify Kai. Tadatsugu and Nobumine met with unexpected resistance from Suwa Yoritada, a former Takeda vassal who was now allied with the Hōjō clan. They were beaten by Yoritada, who were then reinforced by
17800-578: The effect of changing Japanese into a mora-timed language. Late Middle Japanese covers the years from 1185 to 1600, and is normally divided into two sections, roughly equivalent to the Kamakura period and the Muromachi period , respectively. The later forms of Late Middle Japanese are the first to be described by non-native sources, in this case the Jesuit and Franciscan missionaries; and thus there
17978-468: The end of battle, the Ikkō-ikki were defeated. By 1565, Ieyasu had become the master of all of Mikawa Province. In 1566, as Ieyasu declared his independence from the Imagawa clan. He reformed the order of Mikawa province starting with the Matsudaira clan , after he pacified Mikawa . This decision was made after he was counseled by his senior vassal Sakai Tadatsugu to abandon the clan's allegiance to
18156-502: The ex- shōgun ' s army. All Tokugawa lands were seized and placed under "imperial control", thus placing them under the prerogative of the new Meiji government . With Fuhanken sanchisei , the areas were split into three types: urban prefectures ( 府 , fu ) , rural prefectures ( 県 , ken ) and the already existing domains. On March 23 the Dutch Minister-Resident Dirk de Graeff van Polsbroek and
18334-399: The field. Meanwhile, Nobunaga also stated that if Katsuyori neglected helping Motonobu at all, it would damage the Takeda clan's credibility because they could not save their own vassals. In 1581, Ieyasu forces managed to subdue Tanaka castle, and recapture Takatenjin castle , where Okabe Motonobu was killed during the fight. The end of the war with Takeda Katsuyori came in 1582, when
18512-732: The flank of Azai's formation, which caused Oda-Tokugawa's forces to be able to win the battle. In October 1571, Takeda Shingen broke the alliance with the Oda-Tokugawa forces and allied with the Odawara Hōjō clan . He decided to make a drive for Kyoto at the urging of the shōgun Ashikaga Yoshiaki , starting by invading Tokugawa lands in Tōtōmi . Takeda Shingen's first objectives in his campaign against Ieyasu were Nishikawa Castle , Yoshida Castle and Futamata Castle . In 1572, after besieging Futamata , Shingen would press on past Futamata towards
18690-455: The flow of loanwords from European languages increased significantly, and words from English roots have proliferated. Japanese is an agglutinative , mora -timed language with relatively simple phonotactics , a pure vowel system, phonemic vowel and consonant length, and a lexically significant pitch-accent . Word order is normally subject–object–verb with particles marking the grammatical function of words, and sentence structure
18868-644: The following day, which resulted in Hidetaka being killed on June 18. The Hōjō also gained support from the Hoshina clan , which was a former Takeda vassal, led by Hoshina Masatoshi and his sons Hoshina Masanao and Naitō Masaaki. By the end of June, they had secured all of the territory except for the areas controlled by the Sanada in Numata and Agatsuma. Meanwhile, Ieyasu immediately marched his 8,000 soldiers to
19046-491: The former Imagawa territories in Tōtōmi Province. In 1570, Ieyasu established Hamamatsu as the capital of his territory, placing his son Matsudaira Nobuyasu in charge of Okazaki . Asakura Yoshikage , the head of the Asakura clan and regent of Ashikaga Yoshiaki , refused to come to Kyōto. This caused Nobunaga to declare both of them rebels. Several reports from Mikawa Monogatari , Nobunaga Koki , Tokugawa Jikki , and
19224-725: The foundations of imperial rule shall be strengthened." Under the leadership of Mori Arinori , a group of prominent Japanese intellectuals went on to form the Meiji Six Society in 1873 to continue to "promote civilization and enlightenment" through modern ethics and ideas. However, during the restoration, political power simply moved from the Tokugawa shogunate to an oligarchy consisting of these leaders, mostly from Satsuma Province ( Ōkubo Toshimichi and Saigō Takamori ), and Chōshū Province ( Itō Hirobumi , Yamagata Aritomo , and Kido Takayoshi). This reflected their belief in
19402-609: The genitive particle ga remains in intentionally archaic speech. Early Middle Japanese is the Japanese of the Heian period , from 794 to 1185. It formed the basis for the literary standard of Classical Japanese , which remained in common use until the early 20th century. During this time, Japanese underwent numerous phonological developments, in many cases instigated by an influx of Chinese loanwords . These included phonemic length distinction for both consonants and vowels , palatal consonants (e.g. kya ) and labial consonant clusters (e.g. kwa ), and closed syllables . This had
19580-411: The help Japan received from other powers, one of the key factors in Japan's industrializing success was its relative lack of resources, which made it unattractive to Western imperialism. The farmer and the samurai classification were the base and soon the problem of why there was a limit of growth within the nation's industrial work. The government sent officials such as the samurai to monitor the work that
19758-430: The homage of his nominal retainers, led by the karō Torii Tadayoshi . One year later, at the age of 15 (according to East Asian age reckoning ), he married his first wife, Lady Tsukiyama , a relative of Imagawa Yoshimoto, and changed his name again to Matsudaira Kurandonosuke Motoyasu ( 松平 蔵人佐 元康 ) . A year later, their son, Matsudaira Nobuyasu , was born. He was then allowed to return to Mikawa Province. There,
19936-405: The international market. With this, industrial zones grew enormously, and there was a massive migration to industrializing centers from the countryside. Industrialization additionally went hand in hand with the development of a national railway system and modern communications. With industrialization came the demand for coal. There was dramatic rise in production, as shown in the table below. Coal
20114-430: The language, affecting the phonology of Early Middle Japanese . Late Middle Japanese (1185–1600) saw extensive grammatical changes and the first appearance of European loanwords . The basis of the standard dialect moved from the Kansai region to the Edo region (modern Tokyo ) in the Early Modern Japanese period (early 17th century–mid 19th century). Following the end of Japan's self-imposed isolation in 1853,
20292-458: The languages of the original Jōmon inhabitants, including the ancestor of the modern Ainu language . Because writing had yet to be introduced from China, there is no direct evidence, and anything that can be discerned about this period must be based on internal reconstruction from Old Japanese , or comparison with the Ryukyuan languages and Japanese dialects . The Chinese writing system
20470-449: The languages. Okinawan Japanese is a variant of Standard Japanese influenced by the Ryūkyūan languages, and is the primary dialect spoken among young people in the Ryukyu Islands . Modern Japanese has become prevalent nationwide (including the Ryūkyū islands) due to education , mass media , and an increase in mobility within Japan, as well as economic integration. Japanese is a member of
20648-427: The large quantity of English loanwords, modern Japanese has developed a distinction between [tɕi] and [ti] , and [dʑi] and [di] , with the latter in each pair only found in loanwords. Although Japanese is spoken almost exclusively in Japan, it has also been spoken outside of the country. Before and during World War II , through Japanese annexation of Taiwan and Korea , as well as partial occupation of China ,
20826-429: The major Tokugawa home castle at Hamamatsu . Ieyasu asked for help from Nobunaga, who sent him some 3,000 troops. Early in 1573, the two armies met at the Battle of Mikatagahara , north of Hamamatsu. The considerably larger Takeda army, under the expert direction of Shingen, overwhelmed Ieyasu's troops and caused heavy casualties. Despite his initial reluctance, Ieyasu was convinced by his generals to retreat. The battle
21004-589: The mediation of a Mikawa native and the abbot of the Kyo Seiganji Temple. Due to Motohisa's efforts, Yoshida Kaneyoshi discovered a genealogical document in the Manri-koji family that was precedent, saying, "Tokugawa (belongs) to Minamoto clan, as another offshoot of the Fujiwara clan," and a copy was transferred to him and used for the application. Then after passing several steps, Ieyasu gained
21182-464: The military, the government instituted nationwide conscription in 1873, mandating that every male would serve for four years in the armed forces upon turning 21 years old, followed by three more years in the reserves. One of the primary differences between the samurai and peasant classes was the right to bear arms ; this ancient privilege was suddenly extended to every male in the nation. Furthermore, samurai were no longer allowed to walk about town bearing
21360-502: The more plausible theory was that there was friction within the house of Tokugawa clan between two factions with conflicting ideals, as proposed by the Japanese writer Tenkyu Goro. One faction was active on the front lines and had many opportunities to advance their careers, dubbed the "Hamamatsu Castle Faction." The other faction was the "Okazaki Castle Faction," which consisted of Tokugawa vassals responsible for logistical support due to past injuries and other factors that caused them to play
21538-440: The more traditional practice of imperial rule, whereby the Emperor of Japan serves solely as the spiritual authority of the nation and his ministers govern the nation in his name. The Meiji oligarchy that formed the government under the rule of the Emperor first introduced measures to consolidate their power against the remnants of the Edo period government, the shogunate, daimyōs , and the samurai class. Throughout Japan at
21716-505: The most powerful daimyo and the most senior officer under the Toyotomi regime. Ieyasu preserved his strength during Toyotomi's failed attempts to conquer Korea . After Hideyoshi's death and the Battle of Sekigahara , Ieyasu seized power in 1600. He received appointment as shōgun in 1603, and voluntarily resigned from his position in 1605, although he still held the de facto control of government until his death in 1616. He implemented
21894-489: The new sectors of the economy could not be heavily taxed, the costs of industrialisation and necessary investments in modernisation heavily fell on the peasant farmers, who paid extremely high land tax rates (about 30 percent of harvests) as compared to the rest of the world (double to seven times of European countries by net agricultural output). In contrast, land tax rates were about 2% in Qing China. The high taxation gave
22072-570: The next seven years, Ieyasu and Katsuyori fought a series of small battles, as the result, Ieyasu's troops managed to wrest control of Suruga Province from the Takeda clan . In 1579, Lady Tsukiyama , Ieyasu's wife, and his heir Matsudaira Nobuyasu were accused by Nobunaga of conspiring with Takeda Katsuyori to assassinate Nobunaga, whose daughter Tokuhime was married to Nobuyasu. Ieyasu ordered his wife to be executed and forced his son to commit seppuku because of these accusations. There are various theories regarding this incident. According to
22250-418: The now-discredited Altaic , but none of these proposals have gained any widespread acceptance. Little is known of the language's prehistory, or when it first appeared in Japan. Chinese documents from the 3rd century AD recorded a few Japanese words, but substantial Old Japanese texts did not appear until the 8th century. From the Heian period (794–1185), extensive waves of Sino-Japanese vocabulary entered
22428-415: The oligarchs to action. Whatever their true intentions, the oligarchs embarked on another slow and deliberate process to abolish the samurai class. First, in 1873, it was announced that the samurai stipends were to be taxed on a rolling basis. Later, in 1874, the samurai were given the option to convert their stipends into government bonds . Finally, in 1876, this commutation was made compulsory. To reform
22606-425: The only strict rule of word order is that the verb must be placed at the end of a sentence (possibly followed by sentence-end particles). This is because Japanese sentence elements are marked with particles that identify their grammatical functions. The basic sentence structure is topic–comment . For example, Kochira wa Tanaka-san desu ( こちらは田中さんです ). kochira ("this") is the topic of the sentence, indicated by
22784-470: The out-group gives a benefit to the in-group, and "up" to indicate the in-group gives a benefit to the out-group. Here, the in-group includes the speaker and the out-group does not, and their boundary depends on context. For example, oshiete moratta ( 教えてもらった ) (literally, "explaining got" with a benefit from the out-group to the in-group) means "[he/she/they] explained [it] to [me/us]". Similarly, oshiete ageta ( 教えてあげた ) (literally, "explaining gave" with
22962-415: The particle wa . The verb desu is a copula , commonly translated as "to be" or "it is" (though there are other verbs that can be translated as "to be"), though technically it holds no meaning and is used to give a sentence 'politeness'. As a phrase, Tanaka-san desu is the comment. This sentence literally translates to "As for this person, (it) is Mx Tanaka." Thus Japanese, like many other Asian languages,
23140-503: The permission of the Imperial Court and he was bestowed the courtesy title Mikawa-no-kami and the court rank of Junior 5th Rank, Lower Grade ( 從五位下 , ju go-i no ge ) . Though the Tokugawa clan could claim some modicum of freedom, they were very much subject to the requests of Oda Nobunaga . Ieyasu remained an ally of Nobunaga and his Mikawa soldiers were part of Nobunaga's army which captured Kyoto in 1568. In 1568, at
23318-429: The ports being opened for trade, but also began the process of merging members of the different societies together. Examples of this include western teachers and advisors immigrating to Japan and also Japanese nationals moving to western countries for education purposes. All these things in turn played a part in expanding the people of Japan's knowledge on western customs, technology and institutions. Many people believed it
23496-625: The pro-Imagawa faction, including the Sakurai and Okusa Matsudaira families, which led to the simultaneous uprising against Ieyasu in the following year. During this period, the Matsudaira clan faced a threat from the Ikkō-ikki movement, where peasants banded together with militant monks under the Jōdo Shinshū sect, and rejected the traditional feudal social order. Ieyasu undertook several battles to suppress this movement in his territories, including
23674-481: The proposed larger Altaic family, or to various Southeast Asian languages , especially Austronesian . None of these proposals have gained wide acceptance (and the Altaic family itself is now considered controversial). As it stands, only the link to Ryukyuan has wide support. Other theories view the Japanese language as an early creole language formed through inputs from at least two distinct language groups, or as
23852-488: The rebels. On January 15, 1564, Ieyasu decided to concentrate his forces to attack and eliminate the Ikkō-ikki from Mikawa. In the Battle of Azukizaka , Ieyasu was fighting on the front lines and was nearly killed when he was struck by several bullets however he survived because they did not penetrate his armor. Both sides were using new gunpowder weapons which the Portuguese had introduced to Japan 20 years earlier. At
24030-420: The resultant modernization of Japan, also influenced Japanese self-identity with respect to its Asian neighbours, as Japan became the first Asian state to modernize based on the Western model, replacing the traditional Confucian hierarchical order that had persisted previously under a dominant China with one based on modernity. Adopting enlightenment ideals of popular education, the Japanese government established
24208-459: The same structure as affirmative sentences, but with intonation rising at the end. In the formal register, the question particle -ka is added. For example, ii desu ( いいです ) "It is OK" becomes ii desu-ka ( いいですか。 ) "Is it OK?". In a more informal tone sometimes the particle -no ( の ) is added instead to show a personal interest of the speaker: Dōshite konai-no? "Why aren't (you) coming?". Some simple queries are formed simply by mentioning
24386-463: The same time, Ieyasu was eager to expand eastward to Tōtōmi Province . Ieyasu and Takeda Shingen , the head of the Takeda clan in Kai Province , made an alliance for the purpose of conquering all the Imagawa territory. It is said that the Tokugawa clan had made an agreement with the Takeda clan when dividing the territory that the eastern Suruga Province would become Takeda territory and
24564-527: The same year, Ieyasu's troops penetrated Tōtōmi Province . Meanwhile, Takeda Shingen 's troops captured Suruga Province (including the Imagawa capital of Sunpu ). Imagawa Ujizane fled to Kakegawa Castle , which led Ieyasu to lay siege to Kakegawa . Ieyasu then negotiated with Ujizane, promising that if Ujizane surrendered himself and the remainder of Tōtōmi, Ieyasu would assist Ujizane in regaining Suruga. Ujizane had nothing left to lose, and Ieyasu immediately ended his alliance with Takeda , instead making
24742-402: The samurai class lived on. The oligarchs also embarked on a series of land reforms . In particular, they legitimized the tenancy system which had been going on during the Tokugawa period. Despite the bakufu 's best efforts to freeze the four classes of society in place, during their rule villagers had begun to lease land out to other farmers, becoming rich in the process. This greatly disrupted
24920-454: The shogunate, were persuaded to "return their domains to the Emperor". Other daimyō were subsequently persuaded to do so, thus creating a central government in Japan which exercised direct power through the entire "realm". Some shogunate forces escaped to Hokkaidō , where they attempted to set up a breakaway Republic of Ezo ; however, forces loyal to the Emperor ended this attempt in May 1869 with
25098-463: The siege. During their retreat, Kagehira launched a counterattack to pursue Ieyasu, but this was repelled by Mizuno Tadashige and Torii Mototada who led the rearguard. In April 1575, Ōga Yashirō, a deputy governor of over 20 villages in Oku district of Mikawa under Matsudaira Nobuyasu, was arrested by Ōkubo Tadayo and paraded around Hamamatsu Castle . He was then executed by being mutilated alive with
25276-439: The speaker, the listener, and persons mentioned. The Japanese writing system combines Chinese characters , known as kanji ( 漢字 , ' Han characters') , with two unique syllabaries (or moraic scripts) derived by the Japanese from the more complex Chinese characters: hiragana ( ひらがな or 平仮名 , 'simple characters') and katakana ( カタカナ or 片仮名 , 'partial characters'). Latin script ( rōmaji ローマ字 )
25454-817: The state as at the time the constitution was written, many of the elders participating in the process had been educated in Japanese during the South Seas Mandate over the island shown by the 1958 census of the Trust Territory of the Pacific that found that 89% of Palauans born between 1914 and 1933 could speak and read Japanese, but as of the 2005 Palau census there were no residents of Angaur that spoke Japanese at home. Japanese dialects typically differ in terms of pitch accent , inflectional morphology , vocabulary , and particle usage. Some even differ in vowel and consonant inventories, although this
25632-481: The street. (grammatically incorrect insertion of a pronoun) But one can grammatically say essentially the same thing in Japanese: 驚いた彼は道を走っていった。 Transliteration: Odoroita kare wa michi o hashitte itta. (grammatically correct) This is partly because these words evolved from regular nouns, such as kimi "you" ( 君 "lord"), anata "you" ( あなた "that side, yonder"), and boku "I" ( 僕 "servant"). This
25810-435: The threat of being colonized, bringing to an end the era known as sakoku . The word "Meiji" means "enlightened rule" and the goal was to combine "modern advances" with traditional "eastern" values ( 和魂洋才 , Wakonyosai ) . The main leaders of this were Itō Hirobumi , Matsukata Masayoshi , Kido Takayoshi , Itagaki Taisuke , Yamagata Aritomo , Mori Arinori , Ōkubo Toshimichi , and Yamaguchi Naoyoshi . The foundation of
25988-458: The time, the samurai numbered 1.9 million. For comparison, this was more than 10 times the size of the French privileged class before the 1789 French Revolution . Moreover, the samurai in Japan were not merely the lords, but also their higher retainers—people who actually worked. With each samurai being paid fixed stipends, their upkeep presented a tremendous financial burden, which may have prompted
26166-518: The title of Emperor must be substituted for that of Taikun , in which the treaties have been made. Officers are being appointed by us to the conduct of foreign affairs. It is desirable that the representatives of the treaty powers recognize this announcement. Shortly thereafter in January 1868, the Boshin War started with the Battle of Toba–Fushimi in which Chōshū and Satsuma 's forces defeated
26344-641: The topic with an interrogative intonation to call for the hearer's attention: Kore wa? "(What about) this?"; O-namae wa? ( お名前は？ ) "(What's your) name?". Negatives are formed by inflecting the verb. For example, Pan o taberu ( パンを食べる。 ) "I will eat bread" or "I eat bread" becomes Pan o tabenai ( パンを食べない。 ) "I will not eat bread" or "I do not eat bread". Plain negative forms are i -adjectives (see below) and inflect as such, e.g. Pan o tabenakatta ( パンを食べなかった。 ) "I did not eat bread". Tokugawa Ieyasu Among others... Tokugawa Ieyasu (born Matsudaira Takechiyo ; January 31, 1543 – June 1, 1616)
26522-502: The treaty, opening Japanese ports to trade. Figures like Shimazu Nariakira concluded that "if we take the initiative, we can dominate; if we do not, we will be dominated", leading Japan to "throw open its doors to foreign technology." After the humiliation of the Unequal Treaties, the leaders of the Meiji Restoration (as this revolution came to be known), acted in the name of restoring imperial rule to strengthen Japan against
26700-419: The two consonants are the moraic nasal followed by a homorganic consonant. Japanese also includes a pitch accent , which is not represented in moraic writing; for example [haꜜ.ɕi] ("chopsticks") and [ha.ɕiꜜ] ("bridge") are both spelled はし ( hashi ) , and are only differentiated by the tone contour. Japanese word order is classified as subject–object–verb . Unlike many Indo-European languages ,
26878-577: The two methods were both used in writing until the 1940s. Bungo still has some relevance for historians, literary scholars, and lawyers (many Japanese laws that survived World War II are still written in bungo , although there are ongoing efforts to modernize their language). Kōgo is the dominant method of both speaking and writing Japanese today, although bungo grammar and vocabulary are occasionally used in modern Japanese for effect. The 1982 state constitution of Angaur , Palau , names Japanese along with Palauan and English as an official language of
27056-464: The two neighboring forts, and when the garrisons of the other forts came to assist, Motoyasu's supply column was able to reach Odaka. By 1559, the leadership of the Oda clan had passed to Oda Nobunaga . In 1560, Imagawa Yoshimoto leading a large army of 25,000 men, invaded Oda territory. Motoyasu was assigned a separate mission to capture the stronghold of Marune in the Siege of Marune operation. As
27234-480: The two terms (''hyōjungo'' and ''kyōtsūgo'') are almost the same. Hyōjungo or kyōtsūgo is a conception that forms the counterpart of dialect. This normative language was born after the Meiji Restoration ( 明治維新 , meiji ishin , 1868) from the language spoken in the higher-class areas of Tokyo (see Yamanote ). Hyōjungo is taught in schools and used on television and in official communications. It
27412-437: The value they provided in the modernization of Japan, the Japanese government did not consider it prudent for them to settle in Japan permanently. After their contracts ended, most of them returned to their country except some, like Josiah Conder and W. K. Burton . Japanese language Japanese ( 日本語 , Nihongo , [ɲihoŋɡo] ) is the principal language of the Japonic language family spoken by
27590-407: The verb (e.g. yonde for earlier yomite ), the -k- in the final mora of adjectives drops out ( shiroi for earlier shiroki ); and some forms exist where modern standard Japanese has retained the earlier form (e.g. hayaku > hayau > hayɔɔ , where modern Japanese just has hayaku , though the alternative form is preserved in the standard greeting o-hayō gozaimasu "good morning"; this ending
27768-455: The way, they were stopped by the Mizuno clan's forces at Chiryu, but because Asai Michitada was with them, they were not attacked. Having escaped from danger, Motoyasu entered Daijuji Temple outside Okazaki Castle the following day. With Imagawa Yoshimoto dead, and the Imagawa clan in a state of confusion, Motoyasu used the opportunity to assert his independence and marched his men back into
27946-405: The western Tōtōmi province would be Tokugawa territory, with the Ōi River as the border. On January 8, 1569, the Takeda vassal Akiyama Nobutomo invaded the Tōtōmi province from Shinano Province. The Takeda clan, through Oda Nobunaga, with whom they had a friendly relationship, asked Ieyasu, who was Nobunaga's ally, to reconsider cooperation with the Takeda, but Ieyasu rejected the idea, and Ieyasu
28124-548: The world. Since Japanese first gained the consideration of linguists in the late 19th century, attempts have been made to show its genealogical relation to languages or language families such as Ainu , Korean , Chinese , Tibeto-Burman , Uralic , Altaic (or Ural-Altaic ), Austroasiatic , Austronesian and Dravidian . At the fringe, some linguists have even suggested a link to Indo-European languages , including Greek , or to Sumerian . Main modern theories try to link Japanese either to northern Asian languages, like Korean or
28302-423: Was 6, his father Hirotada died of unknown causes. There was a popular theory that he was murdered by his vassals, who had been bribed by the Oda clan. However, recent research published in a paper by Muraoka Mikio in 2015 stated that the assassination theory was unreliable and Hirotada's death may have been caused by a natural illness. Around the same time, Oda Nobuhide died during an epidemic. Nobuhide's death dealt
28480-405: Was a major defeat, but in the interest of maintaining the appearance of a dignified withdrawal, Ieyasu brazenly ordered the men in his castle to light torches, sound drums, and leave the gates open, to properly receive the returning warriors. To the surprise and relief of the Tokugawa army, this spectacle made the Takeda generals suspicious that they were being led into a trap, so they did not besiege
28658-673: Was a member of the Matsudaira clan , he claimed descent from the Seiwa Genji branch of the Minamoto clan . As there was no proof that the Matsudaira clan were descendants of Emperor Seiwa , the Emperor initially did not approve the appointment, citing the lack of a precedent for the Serada clan of the Seiwa Genji clan to be appointed as Mikawa-no-kami (Lord of Mikawa). Ieyasu then consulted with imperial noble Konoe Motohisa through
28836-412: Was actually conspiring with the Ieyasu's mother, Odai no Kata , to get rid of Lady Tsukiyama. Arthur Lindsay Sadler theorized this was a deliberate act of spite from Tadatsugu due to many senior Tokugawa clan generals' dislike of Nobuyasu. In the same year, Ieyasu named his third son, Tokugawa Hidetada , as his heir since his second son had been adopted by Toyotomi Hideyoshi , who would later become
29014-488: Was based on 12- to 20-second-long recordings of 135 to 244 phonemes , which 42 students listened to and translated word-for-word. The listeners were all Keio University students who grew up in the Kanto region . There are some language islands in mountain villages or isolated islands such as Hachijō-jima island , whose dialects are descended from Eastern Old Japanese . Dialects of the Kansai region are spoken or known by many Japanese, and Osaka dialect in particular
29192-553: Was being done. Because of Japan's leaders taking control and adapting Western techniques it has remained one of the world's largest industrial nations. The rapid industrialization and modernization of Japan both allowed and required a massive increase in production and infrastructure. Japan built industries such as shipyards, iron smelters, and spinning mills, which were then sold to well-connected entrepreneurs. Consequently, domestic companies became consumers of Western technology and applied it to produce items that would be sold cheaply in
29370-493: Was dangerous because of the Ochimusha-gari , or "Samurai hunters" gangs. Ieyasu and his party, therefore, chose the shortest route back to Mikawa Province by crossing Iga Province . The exact route differs in many versions according to primary sources Tokugawa Nikki or Mikawa Todai-Hon : Regardless which theory was true, historians agreed that when his path ended at Kada (a mountain pass between Kameyama and Iga),
29548-441: Was essential for Japan to acquire western "spirit" in order to become a great nation with strong trade routes and military strength. The Meiji Restoration accelerated the industrialization process in Japan, which led to its rise as a military power by the year 1895, under the slogan of "Enrich the country, strengthen the military" ( 富国強兵 , fukoku kyōhei ) . There were a few factories set up using imported technologies in
29726-871: Was good for limiting disease spread, so the Japanese government lifted their attempted ban in May 1875 and promoted cremation for diseased people in 1897. Even before the Meiji Restoration, the Tokugawa Shogunate government hired German diplomat Philipp Franz von Siebold as diplomatic advisor, Dutch naval engineer Hendrik Hardes for Nagasaki Arsenal and Willem Johan Cornelis, Ridder Huijssen van Kattendijke for Nagasaki Naval Training Center , French naval engineer François Léonce Verny for Yokosuka Naval Arsenal , and British civil engineer Richard Henry Brunton . Most of them were appointed through government approval with two or three years contract, and took their responsibility properly in Japan, except some cases. Then many other foreign specialists were hired. Despite
29904-735: Was imported to Japan from Baekje around the start of the fifth century, alongside Buddhism. The earliest texts were written in Classical Chinese , although some of these were likely intended to be read as Japanese using the kanbun method, and show influences of Japanese grammar such as Japanese word order. The earliest text, the Kojiki , dates to the early eighth century, and was written entirely in Chinese characters, which are used to represent, at different times, Chinese, kanbun , and Old Japanese. As in other texts from this period,
30082-479: Was largely composed of former samurai. This sent a strong message to the dissenting samurai that their time was indeed over. There were fewer subsequent samurai uprisings and the distinction became all but a name as the samurai joined the new society. The ideal of samurai military spirit lived on in romanticized form and was often used as propaganda during the early 20th-century wars of the Empire of Japan . However, it
30260-491: Was led by Ogasawara Sadayoshi and his retainers which opposed the steps taken by Dōsetsusai. Sadayoshi's group appealed to the Tokugawa clan and offered their allegiance to Ieyasu. On June 24, Kagekatsu advanced into northern Shinano and entered Naganuma castle . As the triangle battle was underway between the three factions, order was restored in Owari province as the rebellion of Akechi Mitsuhide had already been suppressed in
30438-474: Was lost immediately following its composition.) This set of morae shrank to 67 in Early Middle Japanese , though some were added through Chinese influence. Man'yōgana also has a symbol for /je/ , which merges with /e/ before the end of the period. Several fossilizations of Old Japanese grammatical elements remain in the modern language – the genitive particle tsu (superseded by modern no )
30616-452: Was modernized and some parts of the castles were converted into modern military facilities with barracks and parade grounds, such as Hiroshima Castle . Others were handed over to the civilian authorities to build their new administrative structures. Some however were explicitly saved from destruction by interventions from various persons and parties such as politicians, government and military officials, experts, historians, and locals who feared
30794-443: Was needed for steamships and railroads. The growth of these sectors is shown below. The majority of Japanese castles were partially or completely dismantled in the late 19th century in the Meiji restoration by the national government. Since the feudal system was abolished and the fiefs ( han ) theoretically reverting to the emperor, the national government saw no further use for the upkeep of these now obsolete castles. The military
30972-492: Was signed in 1854 and opened up trade between the United States and Japan. Later, Japan reluctantly expanded its trade deals to France, Britain, the Netherlands and Russia due to American pressure. These treaties signed with Western powers came to be known as Unequal Treaties as Japan lost control over its tariffs while Western powers took control over Japanese lands. In 1858, Townsend Harris , ambassador to Japan, concluded
31150-458: Was taken as a hostage to Sunpu. At Sunpu, he was treated fairly well as a potentially useful ally of the Imagawa clan until 1556 when he was 14 years old. Yoshimoto decided that the Matsudaira clan's territory would be inherited by Takechiyo in the future, with the aim that Imagawa clan could rule the area by extensions of their Matsudaira clan as their vassal, this included Zuien-in (the daughter of Matsudaira Nobutada and Takechiyo's great-aunt), who
31328-492: Was the founder and first shōgun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, which ruled from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fellow Oda subordinate Toyotomi Hideyoshi . The son of a minor daimyo , Ieyasu once lived as a hostage under daimyo Imagawa Yoshimoto on behalf of his father. He later succeeded as daimyo after his father's death, serving as ally, vassal, and general of
31506-477: Was the only member of the Anjo Matsudaira clan left in Okazaki Castle. In 1556, Takechiyo officially came of age, with Imagawa Yoshimoto presiding over his genpuku ceremony. Following tradition, he changed his name from Matsudaira Takechiyo to Matsudaira Jirōsaburō Motonobu ( 松平 次郎三郎 元信 ) . He was also briefly allowed to visit Okazaki to pay his respects to the tomb of his father, and receive
31684-399: Was the son of Matsudaira Hirotada ( 松平 広忠 ) , the daimyo of Mikawa of the Matsudaira clan , and Odai no Kata ( 於大の方 , Lady Odai) , the daughter of a neighbouring samurai lord , Mizuno Tadamasa ( 水野 忠政 ) . His mother and father were step-siblings. They were 17 and 15 years old, respectively, when Takechiyo was born. During the Muromachi period , the Matsudaira clan controlled
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